FlyerTalk Forums - Requirement for speaking your name?

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My questions was not what you do on foreign soil. But what happens if "somebody" will not do it. Saying their names. Who wins the "war". TSA or immigration. Cause if a "person" will not say their name. Then immigration can get angry. So what happens. Again not what "you" would do . What happens. I have a swedish names. Sure I have been asked to say it in english at a few oints in my life. I dont/will never do that. Donte even know the "english" for my name. Plus it will not be my name anymore .

I wonder what they'd do if you announced that you were unable to read?

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Originally Posted by SeriouslyLost (Post 21961924)

I wonder what they'd do if you announced that you were unable to read?

I've faked deaf a few times. Just shrug and look confused like you can't understand them. They lose interest and wave you through.

Then I thank them.

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Originally Posted by Boggie Dog (Post 21959259)

... The question asked up thread is what one would do in a foreign country. When I am a visitor in another country I give them the benefit of doubt that the screening process is understood by the screening people. Also notable is that language skills outside of the U.S. are much better and many people can speak two if not more languages. They certainly seem to be head and shoulders more qualified to screen people than our sorry excuse for baggage screeners.....

Agree absolutely about non-US security staff. (The ones in Switzerland and Japan, to name just two, speak better English than the ones in LAX or DEN. :D) But I think the main question is largely moot.

There are nearly 200 countries in the world and I certainly haven't been to even half of them. But I can't recall any other country where airport security asks you to verbally confirm your name. Indeed, IME, most don't even check ID documents at security. (Which is proof that they are not only better qualified, but have more reasonable policies to follow in the first place.)

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Originally Posted by FredAnderssen (Post 21961629)

I'm curious as to how you handle flying back into the U.S. Do you also refuse that information for the CBP agents?

Again, IME and YMMV, I've never been asked to verbally confirm my name at immigration/customs/border control anywhere in the world, even in the US (although I haven't been back since 2007 and things may have changed.)

But I would cooperate if they did (US CBP or elsewhere). Verifying identity is a valid responsibility of CBP. It is NOT part of TSA's job, despite their silly "identity matters" mantra; they are only tasked to find WEI, which does not require knowing someone's name.

I'm currently living in a Scandinavian country where "Gunn" (sometimes spelled "Gun") is not an uncommon name for a woman.

Seems like one could have a lot of fun in the "state your name" game with a name like that.

"Please state your name for me, please."
"Okay. GUNN Johansson." (whispering the Johansson part)

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Originally Posted by FredAnderssen (Post 21961629)

I'm curious as to how you handle flying back into the U.S. Do you also refuse that information for the CBP agents? I'm wondering because I'm about to fly back into MSP and am thinking about how I should approach some of those same questions.

Border crossings are different. They have the published regulatory authority to ask more intrusive questions. The items that can not be brought across the border go well beyond the WEI of the TSA and there is a compelling government interest in learning the reason why I was out of the country and basic information about my trip and the items that I am bringing back. For domestic travel this does not exist.

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Originally Posted by Schmurrr (Post 21955349)

The TSA checkpoint is not an "inconvenience." It is a place where the government has subjected innocent people to radiation, has created images of innocent people's naked bodies, has groped innocent peoples' genitals, has seized all manner of personal possessions that are not tools of terrorism, has separated children from parents, has revealed travelers' private medical conditions, has broken medical devices, and has generally shamed people who have no connection to terrorism or intent to harm other travelers. All of this has been done at taxpayer expense, without warrants, with screening techniques that are more than minimally invasive (which violates the definition of an administrative search), without prior public input, and with considerable profits accrued by well-positioned security industry vendors.

Nice, concise summary.

History is chock full of people who stood up to airport officials, on a point of principle. I know one of them. He spent a night in the Bangkok Hilton for his principles (and as he was travelling on business, first against the wall, next round of lay offs).

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Originally Posted by Internaut (Post 21964528)

TSA can't arrest people for not saying a name or not screaming "Uncle!" when the TSA wants that.

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Originally Posted by Tom M. (Post 21956723)

Does anyone really think that TSA trains their personnel on how names are pronounced in different languages?

The ultimate absurdity in all of this is that there is no legal requirement to pronounce your name as a U.S. dialect of English-speaking person would phonetically pronounce the group of letters in front of them. You have the right to pronounce your name any darn way you choose, and, you can change how you pronounce it any time you want. This is the card I'm going to play if ever caught in the Name Game.

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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much (Post 21964879)

It's spelled S.M.I.T.H. it's pronounced 'Brown' (on Tuesdays....)

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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much (Post 21964879)

Indeed.

There is no requirement even to consistently pronounce the name the same way in any single language or any dialect/accent of a single language. I know people who pronounce/say their names differently based upon audience or even upon day/purpose.

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Originally Posted by GUWonder (Post 21965537)

Imagine having to go through life with this guy's name?

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Originally Posted by Dovster (Post 21953464)

The following sentence appears in your passport:

This passort is the property of the United States (Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 51.9). It must be surrendered upon demand made by an authorized representative of the United States Government.

Clearly, the TSA and its employees are representatives of the United States Government and, when acting in that capacity, are authorized to take your passport for the limited and reasonable amount of time required for the purpose of identifying you to their satisfaction.

Hence, there was no theft of your property. Had there been a theft (which would have required them taking the passport illegally) it would have been theft of government property.

In reporting to the police that your property was stolen, you were guilty of making a false report and are fortunate that the police did not take it or you seriously enough to press charges against you.

Except the OP mentions, "ID". Not necessarily a passport.

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Originally Posted by zambonisk (Post 21955605)

+1 to the OP.

While I never called the COPS, at IAH, I responded more than once to their name question with I'm exercising my 5th amendment rights and I refusing to answer their questions. Every single time they have called a "suit" down at which time I have always exercised my 5th amendment rights and said that I'm am waiting to be screened.

This is my method, too. I feel that rather than being confrontational, it does the double duty of standing up for my rights while reminding the TSA that they do have to respect those rights and obey the Constitution. And it's satisfying to win.

My only complaint with the OP is that he used 911. If you are regularly going to anticipate calling the police on the TSA, keep a non-emergency contact number on your cell phone. The idea that someone may have not gotten an ambulance in time because of the OP's actions bothers me.

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Originally Posted by InkUnderNails (Post 21959768)

I am a bit of a contrarian on this. As they have two documents with my name, I feel it is a trivial matter to discreetly say my name. There are bigger battles to fight.

I think you may be missing one aspect of it. The point is not for them to gain the information, the point is for them to try to gather evidence that demonstrates that you are presenting false ID. While the TSA has testified in court that no ID is required to fly, I'm pretty sure there is some sort of criminal statute that would cover presenting false ID to a government agency. That's why I plead the 5th, because they are trying to gather evidence that I am in the process of committing a crime. Further, there is no objective standard for whether I did it 'correctly', so anything I say could be used against me.

In one airport, they actually told me the point was to catch identity thieves, which represents an illegal criminal dragnet, AFAIK.

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Originally Posted by tanja (Post 21961652)

I'm trying to think of a situation where you would refuse to give your name to the TSA and they would call immigration. :confused: I guess if the ID you presented clearly indicated that you were a citizen of another country, TSA could call CBP and verify that you are in the country legally. But in the meantime, they would be detaining you when you have broken no laws... depending on the length of time they detained you, and on what grounds, I think they would open themselves up to a lawsuit. <shrug>

All the same, I wouldn't try this in any country where I was a visitor without permanent legal status. You will just have to let people like the OP fight your battles for you.